Local Tax, Bond Measures Fare Well This Week

Voters have approved 70 percent of the 47 tax and bond measures placed on ballots by city councils, school boards and special districts. A couple more trail narrowly.

Michael Coleman with the League of California Cities tracks these measures each election. He says this year’s success rate is consistent with previous elections – in large part because “all politics is local.”

“These issues become very personal and real to people that are in those communities – the services that they relate to are much more tangible. People see them, generally, every day,” says Coleman.

In contrast, Coleman says, voters are more removed from state government so they have a harder time relating to state tax measures.

Nine out of 10 city sales tax measures passed Tuesday. The tenth, in Modesto, trails by fewer than 300 votes. All five school parcel taxes were approved. Measures requiring a two-thirds vote were least likely to pass.

Capitol Bureau Chief Ben Adler first became a public radio listener in the car on his way to preschool – though not necessarily by choice. Now, he leads Capital Public Radio’s state Capitol coverage, which airs on NPR stations across California. Read Full Bio